Willow-a-Go? We Chant “Hell No!”

By Michael Dublin

Here we go again! Another corporate party politician making a corporate driven decision that ultimately distresses the already suffering climate and wounds us all.

The Biden administration broke its promise to voters last week by approving a massive new ConocoPhillips oil drilling project in Alaska called WILLOW over the objections and warnings of environmental experts. The White House says, “Willow-a-go?” Well we say, “HELL NO."

Just another day at the office, sigh. Some call it the okie-doke. Some call it sleight-of-hand. An intellectual might call it duplicity. Choose whichever term you wish or understand, they all impotently attempt to explain the slick move pulled by President Biden when he gave the nod to the calamitous Willow Project. President Biden’s administration declared it was blocking drilling elsewhere in the same state the day before. This display of subterfuge would cause a P.T. Barnum-led cavalcade of the greatest con artist to bow in reverence. It’s akin to giving a facial message before delivering a sucker punch squarely on the jaw. “Promises, promises…why do I believe?” was the question in the song written by Naked Eyes many years ago, and we still ask that question today. We ponder this question, but the North Carolina Green Party also demands Mr. Biden to stop “talking out of both sides of your mouth!’ You sir, are violating your own so-called climate goals. The NCGP whole-heartedly opposes the approval of this devastating scheme.

ConocoPhillips is championing the revenue and jobs this product will produce. Profit. It’s all about the Benjamins baby! We demand to know, “At what cost?” The NCGP instead champions the environment.

We declare it’s not profitable to burn the estimated 280 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the 60 million barrels of crude oil produced by this scheme. It’s not profitable to make people and wildlife suffer by extracting and burning more fossil fuel. These actions will heat the climate faster and hasten our doom.

The NCGP locks arms with those who recognize the severity of the decision, and the threat it poses to lands, wildlife, communities and our climate. Mr. Biden's actions may get a vote of approval from Big Oil and its allies, but the NCGP chants loudly, “Willow-a-go? Hell no!”

The North Carolina Green Party is working on state legislation to ban further such projects such as the ACP pipeline which was successfully defeated in July 2020 after intense public pressure. Join us!

Michael Dublin is an educator and proud member of Triangle Area Greens

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